Remedial Scrooge 101
by Odin Roark

Used to window watch
Now only entrance watch
You know
That place where so much
Self–indulgence enters

Where the last time
You saw a mink-clad damsel
Drop even a nickel in the Salvation Army kettle
Doesn’t even qualify as history--Jack

How about the less obvious
“Got my blinders on, bug off” mind set
Ferragamo shoes
Fur, fur, fur draping the shoulders
Facial scrub
So obvious
(Making the Boehner tan obscenely cheap looking)
Obligatory Saks shopping bag
Swinging casually
Above the leash
Holding back the coiffed white poodle
Leaving in their wake
His and her noxious cologne

Ah such carefree nescience

But

Hey

Nobody promised them a weed garden
Not if that ruthless climb to the top of hubristic glory
Is pursued with the compassionless zest
Akin to that of the delusional and mangled minds before

Yes

Mangled is the operative word
For far too many
Incapable of seeing past their narcissism
Are but deception’s space junk seeking a landing
Any landing

And yes

There are exceptions
Humans deserving some attention
The few charitable Gates-Buffet Give Pledgers
The Bono’s
Pitts
And Jolies
Maintaining that modicum of sanity
Knowing they weren’t always so flush
Trying to keep their eye on the ball
Trying to influence us to keep our eye on the bounce
And our drifting eye on the space
Between gravity and the weightlessness of ignorance

This time of the year
Either serves our consciousness
Or condemns us to another year
Drifting further with that dastardly trajectory
Known as Scrooge’s orbit